Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 18:12:51 -0500
From: "Christopher R. Coolidge"
Subject: Re: Quebec language & law
On Tue, 11 Mar 1997, mpicone wrote:
> On Tue, 11 Mar 1997 08:13:28 -0500 Christopher R. Coolidge said:
> >
> > For an example of failure of language programs, we need to look at my
> >former home province Quebec and their continued insistence in shoving the
> >French language down immigrants' throats(including Anglo-Americans; only
> >English speaking CANADIAN citizens are allowed access to English public
> >schools). Then they bemoan that immigrants are taking away all the good
> >jobsa from their children. I mean, who's more marketable; a Vietnamese
> >immigrant who speaks both English and French(of course he would have
> >learned English because he's using Quebec as a stepping stone to get into
> >the States as soon as he can pass the much stricter U.S. immigration
> >requirements), or a Quebecois who speaks English very badly? And even
> >though the Office de Language Francais is a black hole that sucks money
> >and does nothing but bicker about how big foreign languages are allowed to
> >be on public signs, the Quebec government still throws money at it. You
> >wonder why I'm impatient about wasting money on programs that don't work.
> >maybe it's because I've lived in Quebec all those years...
>
> The definition of failure shifts as perpsectives shift. From Christopher
> Coolidge's perspective and other immigrants who want access to English
> language schooling for their kids, the policy is a failure. From the
> perspective of the French speaker in Quebec who saw his/her language
> threatened by the encroaching hegemony of Anglo-dominant infrastructure,
> this same policy figures into a larger framework of linguistic legislation
> that has indisputedly strengthened the position of French in Quebec, such
> that the example of Quebec is cited by Fishman and many others as one of
> the few cases where language decline has been successfully reversed.
> Whatever one might think of linguistic legislation, these are the
> realities, on both sides, that one must take account of if one is
> interested at looking at the big picture. Personally, I don't understand
> why anyone would not want to look at it.
>
> Mike Picone
> University of Alabama
> MPICONE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UA1VM.UA.EDU
>
Here's the big picture: the way Quebec's going, especially if it
separates from Canada, it's guaranteed to be little more than a
unilingual French backwater where those who have the money and power send
their kids to private bilingual schools and everybody else is effectively
imprisoned within Quebec's borders due to insufficient grasp of English.
The Quebec government isn't worried; even those members who don't speak
"perfect" English, have their kids in private schools so they can get a
job outside Quebec if they can't find one within its borders. Quebec has
been undergoing a massive brain drain since I was in high school in the
'70's. I can count maybe ten or so of my graduating class that I know are
still in Quebec somewhere; only one of those(she became a dentist)could
be considered successful. Those that I know are doing well are in the
States, Toronto, or Ottawa; anywhere but Montreal(or Quebec by
extension). The rest that are still in Montreal, most of them to my
knowledge are still living with their parents and/or working dead end
jobs.
If I seem angry, it's not directed at the Quebecois people. I find
their dialect linguistically fascinating(and impossible to learn without
being laughed at or responded to in equally broken, or quite often, quite
good albeit accented English.), and the people, when I'm not frustrated
with their bullheadedness about language, are as openhearted and
passionately opinionated(not to mention obnoxious! :-))as Americans have
a reputation for being.(In fact, in some parts of rural Quebec, Johnny
Cash is considered very close to a God)Like Americans, the Quebecois tend
to speak their mind from the top of their heads, so they have an
international reputation for being course and boorish(like Americans!),
but that's the price you pay for brutal honesty, which they're very good at.
The other side of the coin is a Quebecois man is the best friend you
could have, and the women are among the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous(for
the most part!)I've seen anywhere. Among the most feisty too. Not many
shrinking violets in that province.
These are but generalisations, I realise, but otherwise I'd be writing
a book at this rate. I mean, I spent the better part of my life there...